Friday, November 29, 2019

Sound Advice and a Warning From President Obama...

President Obama's even steady influence certainly is needed by the Democratic party. A party that is wading into the deep and troubling waters of socialism/communism. Communism is a total failure and socialism has its problem with extremism every bit as much as conservatism does. Lets hope President Obama can exert enough moderating influence to insure Trump's defeat in November 2020.

He hasn't put his thumb on the scale for any one candidate in particular. But in two different speeches this month, he has made clear that presidential hopefuls would be wise to avoid moving too far to the left if they hope to win back the White House in 2020.

Some party strategists and operatives say that by throwing the weight of his legacy and influence into the simmering ideological debate between the Democratic Party's progressive and moderate wings, the former president has the potential to reshape the dynamics of the primary race.

His latest remarks came last week as Obama met with party donors in California, where he urged Democrats to "chill out" about the primary contest and prepare to rally behind the eventual nominee. But he also appeared to warn against calling for too drastic of change.

"When you listen to the average voter - even ones who aren't stalwart Democrats, but who are more independent or are low-information voters - they don't feel that things are working well, but they're also nervous about changes that might take away what little they have," Obama said.

For some Democrats, Obama's remarks reinforced their concerns that the primary field has lurched too far to the left and that the party may be barreling toward a loss in 2020 unless it can unite behind a moderate nominee capable of appealing to a broader swath of voters in the general election.

"I think that to some extent Obama is the canary in the coal mine," said Dick Harpootlian, a former chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party who is supporting former Vice President Joe Biden's presidential bid.

"He's warning Democrats that if you buy an agenda that is not relevant or salable in November, you're guaranteeing Donald Trump a second term."

Hope for the best, that the party listens to Obama's warnings, or PREPARE for another Trump victory followed by MORE ultra conservative judicial appointments.

8 comments:

It's been a nice Thanksgiving. No drama from Washington. It's interesting. If Trump would just shut up and govern, he'd be killing the Dems. But he has a need to personalize everything. The economy is humming, the deal with Mexico is on track, unemployment is way down.

You are entirely correct Dave. Trump would be light years ahead IF he would just shut his maw and DO the job.

Of course Trump's character flaw, extreme narcissism, is his BIGGEST problem. He simply can help himself. His other big problem is that he lies extensively. To the degree one has to believe he is pathological.

Not a good mix for a president of The USA. Or ANY nation for that matter.

1. Tucker Carlson recently said as much admitting Trump lies "all the time."2. The lies would not be as big a deal for me had conservatives for years not argued that lying was evidence of bad moral character and should disqualify someone from leadership and the presidency. And now they are silent on that view.

We recall from the mid 1930s that fear of socialism and communism resulted in the rise of fascism. We further observe that economics and politics intertwine: we have seen Nazi economics (which were oddly successful) retain private ownership, the poor remained poor, the rich got richer and the economy was controlled by the purchasing power of the state. The reverse totalitarianism of Stalin eliminated the private sector, suffered from economic planningbut retained strong nationalism. In either of these political systems, democracy ceased to exist. The concept ofdemocratic socialism was reinvigorated in Europe after the war and continues variously to this day, most of thosecountries providing universal healthcare, often with better results and at have the GDP cost as us. Unless we ownbig pharma or a chain of private hospitals, it seems there is little to fear and much to gain from the establishedconcept. The power and well as the weakness of democracy is the slowness of action necessitated by the branchesof government, which IMO results in better long term results. Conversely, deadlock may occur. The 'little people'are the target in the current election cycle, both sides claiming populism. They are subject to much media pressureby the 'big people' and must choose which set of lies to believe. My European acquaintances are very satisfied withdemocratic socialism and cannot grasp our fear and hatred of it. Both the 'big' and 'little' people there farewell, their taxes are not funneled into bigbiz profits at every level and unlike us, they don't choose up sidesand hate each other. Like it or not, we already have a mixed system, no progressive will nationalize Pepsi Colaand the only thing we have to fear is Trump itself. Rest assured, I will not vote GOP, not this year, not anyyear, until they come up with another Eisenhower. I Liked Ike!

BB... years ago Karl Barth gave a message in Germany where he talked about socialism. But as he started, he defined the terms and showed where the term had many different meaning throughout history. The problem in America is that socialism has been defined, and that definition accepted, as a system that kills and murders people and robs you of your freedoms.

Years ago I was with a conservative friend at a resort in Southern Mexico. As we soaked in the pool, another guy struck up a conversation. My friend asked him how long he had been in Mexico. 6 weeks every year he answered my buddy. After the guy left to dry off, my friend asked me a question... "How does he get 6 weeks off every year?"

Simple I said... It's that damn socialism!

There are significant numbers of people here in the US who believe that those 6 weeks would be robbing us of our freedom, and they've controlled the terms for years.

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